74 DIDYNAMIA— GYMNOSPERMIA. Mentha, 



serrated, acute, veiny, varying from an ovate-lanceolate to an 

 ovate, or almost orbicular, figure 5 their upper surface hoary j 

 under shaggy with dense, soft, white hairs. Spikes several, ter- 

 minal, erect, generally acute, forming a sort of panicle, each 

 composed of numerous, dense, crowded, bracteated whorls, of 

 small, pale purple^oi^er^. Bracteas linear-lanceolate, spread- 

 ing, the outer pair largest. Flower-stalks covered with short 

 reflexed hairs ; calyx with erect ones. 

 All the varieties, especially a and $, sometimes acquire a sweet, 

 very agreeable, scent 5 but I have not met with any such in 

 British specimens. Haller's 71. 228 is one of these fragrant va- 

 rieties, various in the breadth of its leaves. It is M. gratissima 

 of Wiggers, Roth, Hoffmann, and Willdenov/. The comparative 

 length of the stamens, by which Linnaeus and others have at- 

 tempted to distinguish Menthce, is but an uncertain criterion. 

 If the plant increases much by root, the stamens are shorter and 

 less perfect, and the seeds do not ripen. 



2. M. rotund^folia. Round-leaved Mint. 



Spikes interrupted, somewhat hairy. Leaves elliptical, ob- 

 tuse, wrinkled, sharply crenate ; shaggy beneath. Brac- 

 teas lanceolate. 



M. rotundifolia. Linn. Sp. PL 805. Willd. v.3.77. Sm.Tr. of Linn. 

 Soc.v.5.]82. Fl.Br.6ll. Engl. Bot.v.7.t. 446. Hull I?]. 



M. crispa. Linn. Sp. PL ed. 3.576. 



M. sylvestrise Sole Menth. 7. t.o. 



M. n. 226. HalL Hist. v. 1. 99. 



Menthastrum anglicum. Riv. Monop. Irr.t. 5\.f. 2. 



M- folio rugosorotundiore, spontaneum,flore spicato, odore gravi. 

 Raii Syn. 234. Herb. Buddie. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. p. 2. 219./. 



Sisymbrium hortense. Matth. Valgr. v. 1. 440./. 



/3. M.niveum anglicum. Ger. Em.684.f. Lob.Ic.blO.f. Dalech. 

 Hist. 674. f. 



M. spicatum, folio crispo rotundiore, colore partim albo, partim 

 cinereo vel virente. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. p. 2. 219./ 



M, cinereum vel niveum anglicum, variegatis foliis. Best. Hart. 

 Eyst. cBst. ord. 7 - t. 3./. 2. 



In wet places amongst rubbish, or about the borders of ditches, 

 moats and ponds, but rare. 



By the river side at Lydbrook, near Ross, Herefordshire ; also at 

 Falkburn Hall, Essex. Ray. Near Hally in Kent. Doody. On 

 the edge of an old moat at Shingham, Norfolk. Rev. R. Forhy. 

 Near Chepstow, Monmouthshire. 



Perennial. August, September. 



Essentially different from every state of the preceding, with some 

 of the round-leaved varieties of which it has often been con- 

 founded. The colour of the whole herb is a grass green, though 



